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Spherical Table Watch (Melanchthon's Watch)

German1530 (Renaissance)

The Walters Art Museum

The Walters Art Museum
Baltimore, United States

This is the earliest dated watch known. It is engraved on the bottom: "PHIL[IP]. MELA[NCHTHON]. GOTT. ALEIN. DIE. EHR[E]. 1530" (Philip Melanchthon, to God alone the glory, 1530). There are very few watches existing today that predate 1550; only two dated examples are known--this one from 1530 and another from 1548. There is no watchmaker's mark, although Nuremberg is considered the birthplace of spherical watches (called "Nuremberg Eggs"). A single winding kept it running for 12 to 16 hours, and it told time to within the nearest half hour. The perforations in the case permitted one to see the time without opening the watch. This watch was commissioned by the great German reformer and humanist Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560).

Details

  • Title: Spherical Table Watch (Melanchthon's Watch)
  • Creator Nationality: German
  • Date Created: 1530 (Renaissance)
  • Physical Dimensions: w4.8 x h4.8 cm
  • Type: watches
  • Rights: Acquired by Henry Walters, 1910, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
  • External Link: The Walters Art Museum
  • Medium: gilt on brass case, gilt on brass dial, iron movement
  • Provenance: Jacques Seligmann, Paris, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1910, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
  • Place of Origin: Nuremberg, Germany (?)
  • Inscriptions: [Transcription] Engraved on the bottom: PHIL[IP]. MELA[NCHTHON]. GOTT. ALEIN. DIE. EHR[E]. 1530; [Translation] Engraved on bottom: Philip Melanchthon, to God alone the glory, 1530
  • ExhibitionHistory: Philip Melanchthon's Watch. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 2000-2001
  • Artist: German

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